In November and December of 2009, the Royal Geographical Society loaned Kala Kahani a stunning travelling exhibition called 'Punjab: Moving Journey's.' the exhibition consists of 21 panels that can be mounted on exhibition boards and reveals the 'Punjab', a region that spans both India and Pakistan. Developed in partnership with the UK Punjab Heritage Association, the Muslim Women's Welfare Association (Ilford), the Cartwright Hall Young Ambassadors (Bradford) and the Anglo Sikh Heritage Trail, the exhibition links London and Bradford to the borders of India and Pakistan. Through the Society's 19th century photographs, maps and texts the Punjab's history has been rediscovered and retold by community members, focusing on migrations, within and across borders, from the earliest history of the region, through Partition and into the 21st Century. Combining contemporary commentary from British Punjabi's with Victorian photography with accounts from British visitors and colonial administrators, the exhibition uncovers this region's complex history and the challenges facing Punjabi's in 21st century Britain, including how they relate to their British adoptive home and an Indian / Pakistani homeland.
We placed the exhibition at three venues across the Midlands, Leicester College (Painter Street Campus) as part of their Inter Faith week where it was in the Atrium main reception and viewed by passing students, it also went to 'Coping with Cancer' and was used to inspire a group of ladies to write about their personal journeys as part of a creative writing workshop based on the Exhibition. And finally it went to the Niskam Centre in Birmingham which receives in excess of 30.000 visitors a week. It was extremely well recieved and we are very grateful to the Royal Geographical Society in loaning it to Kala Kahani.